


Hair

by igrockspock



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 07:45:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/821766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/pseuds/igrockspock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aisha Darwin likes being bald.  She doesn't care for other people's reaction to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hair

Even in the twenty-third century, women are not commonly bald. Aisha knows this; it's part of why she shaved her head. She likes running her hand over the smooth skin of her scalp; she loves putting on red lipstick and false eyelashes that would have been too overwhelming back when she had hair.

She does not love the reactions.

Her roommate -- a first year cadet who arrived after her old roomie had gotten quarantined for Atraxian flu -- gasps, "But what happened to your _hair_?"

Aisha snaps, "Baldness is within the range of female gender expression for my species."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be disrespectful," the girl whispers. "What is your species?"

Aisha rolls her eyes. "Human."

***

Her older sister meets her for lunch in San Francisco and says, "What the hell?"

Aisha looks down at the floor, mock-despondent. "The doctor says it might grow back once the treatments are over. Hair is a small price to pay for my life, right?"

Her sister throws a roll across the table. "Fuck you."

"I laid it on too thick?" Aisha asks.

" _Hair is a small price to pay for my life_ ," her sister mocks. "Yeah, a little over the top."

***

"You changed your hair," Christine says at poker night.

Aisha leans across the table, a conspiratorial smile on her face. "You know the Academy Fight Club people are always talking about?"

Christine and her two engineer friends nod eagerly.

"Well, it's real." Aisha pauses for effect. "I cut off my hair so my enemies couldn't get a hand hold."

Christine snorts. "Try that one on the first years."

***

Sulu says, "Ready to try nav sim 314 again?"

Aisha powers up her station. "Hell yes. We are going to beat those asteroids this time."

"I played hologames all night," Sulu says. "Good for the hand-eye coordination."

"Running sensor sweep and laying in a course," she replies. She glances at Sulu out of the corner of her eye. His eyes are locked on his console. "You aren't even going to _ask_?"

Sulu sighs. "Fine. What happened to your hair?"

"I got bored," she says.

"Yeah. I figured."


End file.
